posted at 8:41 am on May 21, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

That’s not the top line from the Washington Post on its own poll, which focuses more on the President’s “steady” job approval rating. As in the CNN poll, Barack Obama’s overall approval hasn’t changed much over the last month, even with the raft of scandals over the past two weeks:

Majorities of Americans believe that the Internal Revenue Service deliberately harassed conservative groups by targeting them for special scrutiny and say that the Obama administration is trying to cover up important details about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans last year.

But a new Washington Post-ABC News poll also finds that allegations of impropriety related to the controversies have yet to affect President Obama’s political standing.

The president’s approval rating, at 51 percent positive and 44 percent negative, has remained steady in the face of fresh disclosures about the IRS, the Benghazi attack and the Justice Department’s secret collection of telephone records of Associated Press journalists as part of a leak investigation.

That’s very similar to yesterday’s CNN poll, which showed roughly the same approval level for Obama. So far, of course, the scandals haven’t been tied directly to Obama or his inner circle, which is one reason why his job approval hasn’t yet budged. It also takes some time for that kind of erosion to show up in polling for a President, again depending on how close it comes to him personally.

However, that doesn’t mean the public isn’t paying attention. Politico notices that the IRS scandal has caught the nation’s attention — and that a majority reject the administration’s argument that this was just a case of bad training and misguided attempts by low-level agents. Respondents are split on whether the White House is trying to cover it up:

A majority of Americans believe the IRS scandal was part of a deliberate plan to harass conservative groups, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Only 31 percent in the new Washington Post/ABC News poll think the IRS’ targeting was an honest administrative mistake, while 56 percent believe it was deliberate. And 45 percent say the administration is trying to cover up facts about the scandal, while 42 percent believe it is honestly disclosing what it knew.

They’re not happy about it, either. Almost three in four (74%) consider the IRS’ actions inappropriate, with 57% considering them “strongly” inappropriate. Those who are arguing that the IRS was right to target Tea Party applications are among a 1-in-5 minority; only 11% think it was “strongly appropriate.”

Obama and his team gets more bad news on Benghazi. By a 22-point majority (55/33), respondents believe that the White House is trying to cover up what it knows on Benghazi. That includes 60% of independents, a bad number for Obama. They did get some better news on the AP scandal, where 52% believe that the Department of Justice’s seizure of the wire service’s phone records as justified. However, 69% are somewhat or very concerned that the government will “improperly intrude on” the freedom of the press in their efforts to pursue leakers.

Obama’s approval rating may be steady for now, but these scandals have significant potential to change that calculus.

The goal is to foment enough public discontent, moral confusion, and outright chaos to spark the social upheaval that Marx, Engels, and Lenin predicted

— a revolution whose foot soldiers view the status quo as fatally flawed and wholly unworthy of salvation. Thus, the theory goes, the people will settle for nothing less than that status quo’s complete collapse

— to be followed by the erection of an entirely new system upon its ruins. Toward that end, they will be apt to follow the lead of charismatic radical organizers who project an aura of confidence and vision, and who profess to clearly understand what types of societal “changes” are needed.

You see/read a bunch of news stories about how the IRS has been targeting people who oppose the president’s politics. Then you get a random, anonymous phone call asking you if you support the president….

I choose to laugh at him…
The dude was given a chance in a lifetime opportunity to do something good.
And he Flucked it up…
His accomplishments with be like the IRS..
Everyone will curse at it and eventually it will have to be taken down many notches..
if not replaced..

The president’s approval rating, at 51 percent positive and 44 percent negative, has remained steady in the face of fresh disclosures about …..

CNN sent out a “Breaking News” alert two days in a row, the same email no less, that a CNN International poll has Obama’s approval at 55%. The media will continue to push this narrative. Hard evidence of Obama’s involvement is the only thing to change these numbers. Somebody on the inside needs to be brave and do the right thing.

Obama’s approval rating may be steady for now, but these scandals have significant potential to change that calculus.

Clinton’s ratings were holding steady until that little blue dress with “biological material” was revealed. These scandals are coming closer and closer to the West Wing. We already know that the rat-eared coward and his supporters have lied about those Benghazi talking points. This is the drip-drip-drip of a long term problem for team rat-ears.

Terrified of what? My guess is there’s a whistle-blower in the wings that connects some dots.

Rovin on May 21, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Or a paper trail that does the same thing. But which scandal? Personally, I find it hard to believe that the NTEU and the IRS can target specific groups for years without leaving enough documentation to get away with they tales they are telling right now.

So, at least now we know; WaPo believes about one in five Americans are in favor of tyranny.

Those Americans, claim Warren Buffet’s Post, are in favor of using state power to harass and intimidate innocent “other” Americans. They want to see lives destroyed if necessary, and children separated from their jailed, impoverished parents and all in the name of suppressing classically American beliefs and virtues.

I can’t say I’m glad to know this, but knowledge is better than ignorance I guess.

This administration survives on fear. When folks stop being afraid and call them out on things, the unraveling begins. The speed of this happening is picking up. They are liars, thugs, and cheats and there are hundreds of folks they’ve intimidated who are ready to turn on them.
Shoes are about to start dropping like a Payless in an earthquake.

So, at least now we know; WaPo believes about one in five Americans are in favor of tyranny.

Those Americans, claim Warren Buffet’s Post, are in favor of using state power to harass and intimidate innocent “other” Americans. They want to see lives destroyed if necessary, and children separated from their jailed, impoverished parents and all in the name of suppressing classically American beliefs and virtues.

I can’t say I’m glad to know this, but knowledge is better than ignorance I guess.

MTF on May 21, 2013 at 9:06 AM

Never underestimate the hardcore left, they are our enemies. There are millions of them that would put you and I in prison camps in a heartbeat.

Of course, per the results of the last election, the people voting Democrat today are largely unaware of what a Congress is, what it does, or why it isn’t dating Justin Bieber.

Punchenko on May 21, 2013 at 9:03 AM

Blame the tax code in part for that. Conventional wisdom is that the IRS scandal has the most legs, because more people come into direct contact and dislike the IRS than those who can relate to Benghazi or the AP/Fox bugging incidents. But barely half the people in the country pay taxes right now, and while far more have to file 1040s, to a lot of people, the IRS is just the place you send some numbers to, and then they gave you a check.

Those people don’t hate the IRS, because it’s just another wealth redistribution arm of the government to them. So if they’re favoring one group over another, so what — isn’t that what the IRS is for?

Combine that with the fact many of them like Obama as a symbolic figurehead leader of the country because it affirms their own votes as being for racial tolerance and open-mindedness, and it’s not a surprise the IRS revelations haven’t moved the needle all that much for that crowd.

Obama always gets a free pass. Always. The only hope is that the scandals will stop (or at least slow down)Obama’s key legislation band get ride of some of his crookedest cronies (Holder, Hillary, Valerie Jarrett etal.)

The former diplomat who spoke with PJ Media regarded the whole enterprise as totally amateurish and likened it to the Mike Nichols film Charlie Wilson’s War about a clueless congressman who supplies Stingers to the Afghan guerrillas. “It’s as if Hillary and the others just watched that movie and said ‘Hey, let’s do that!’” the diplomat said.

He added that he and his colleagues think the leaking of General David Petraeus’ affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell was timed to silence the former CIA chief on these matters.

Regarding General Ham, military contacts of the diplomats tell them that AFRICOM had Special Ops “assets in place that could have come to the aid of the Benghazi consulate immediately (not in six hours).”

Ham was told by the White House not to send the aid to the trapped men, but Ham decided to disobey and did so anyway, whereupon the White House “called his deputy and had the deputy threaten to relieve Ham of his command.”

The White House motivation in all this is as yet unclear, but it is known the Ham retired quietly in April 2013 as head of AFRICOM…”

“Raymond Maxwell, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Maghreb (North Africa) Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Near East Affairs, whom Hillary Clinton placed on “administrative leave” (months of it, with no end in sight) accuses Clinton’s team of scapegoating him for the failures that led to the death of four Americans in Benghazi. He told Rogin: ““I had no involvement to any degree with decisions on security and the funding of security at our diplomatic mission in Benghazi.”

Maxwell also says that nobody from the State Department has ever told him why he has been disciplined. He has never been granted access to the classified portion of the ARB report, where all of the details regarding personnel failures leading up to Benghazi are set forth. Maxwell also says he has never been shown any evidence or witness testimony linking him to the Benghazi incident.

The Daily Beast’s sources say, however, that Maxwell was identified in the ARB report as not having read daily classified briefings. Maxwell is said to have admitted not doing so. But the ARB apparently stopped short of saying that Maxwell committed misconduct or breached a duty, either by not reading the briefings or otherwise.

According to the Daily Beast’s sources, the decision to place Maxwell on administrative leave was made by Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton’s top “henchman,” whose services for the Clintons date back to the days of Whitewater and Monica. The decision was executed by Beth Jones, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, although it has been reported that Jones understood from Mills that Maxwell would receive another spot rather than being placed in the purgatory of indefinite administrative leave.

Mills and Jones were named by Gregory Hicks as the two State Department officials involved in retaliating against him for questioning Susan Rice’s statements about Benghazi on the Sunday talk shows. Being Hillary’s henchman can be a demanding job….”

The Perfect Storm could be on its way to destroy the Obama presidency. The unfolding scandals coupled with the coming ObamaCare trainwreck, and the end could be near. Could it be, to paraphrase Obama’s favorite pastor, that Obama’s chickens are coming home to roost?

Well no wonder. Even the 2012 results which shocked many of us ended up being D+6. If you use those numbers, Obama’s in the high-40s.

But by all means drive-bys. Keep fudging the poll numbers. Make Obama think he’s far more popular than he really is. He’ll keep parading himself out there on the campaign trail and sink his fellow Democrats just like he did in 2010.

Terrified of what? My guess is there’s a whistle-blower in the wings that connects some dots.

Rovin on May 21, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Or a paper trail that does the same thing. But which scandal? Personally, I find it hard to believe that the NTEU and the IRS can target specific groups for years without leaving enough documentation to get away with they tales they are telling right now.

Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 9:05 AM

This is not just an IRS scandal. We’ve seen ATF, OSHA, Labor, FBI, and EPA assets harrass conservatives within days of applying with the IRS to form a conservative 50-something group. It should be obvious that the entire administration has been turned into a machine to harrass innocent Americans.

This is too big to hide. I suspect it’s all run by the greedy-union shadow-management structure as it is in the IRS. In each of those organizations there has to be an enemies-list. There has to be a means of cross-communications somewhere, and there has to be a coordinator across all the administration departments.

The fact that 42% say the administration is honest is the real problem.

The disconnect between the reality of immense corruption and public perception of the President is why nothing will happen.

For some reason people can’t wrap their minds around the facts about this man. I personally think it is the most vile kind of racism. He certainly isn’t personally likable or competent the way Clinton was. It has to be his skin color that makes people blind to his history and his actions.

But just like the other kind, the kind that brought us slavery and Jim Crow, this kind of racism isn’t going to go away easily. People are racists.

It seems people want to destroy or at least think it is preferable to thinking ill of a black man.

Interesting that whistle-blowers seem to be saying what a lot of us here at HA were saying months ago, by way of speculation.

Also, what Beck said almost from day one.

petefrt on May 21, 2013 at 9:23 AM

Yeah. Confirms a stand-down order and a secret arms deal. I don’t recall ever seeing an arms deal theory though that involved us secretly providing Libyan insurgents with Stingers. And if State really did this on their own no wonder they had such a huge interest in shaping the post-attack narrative.

The primary thing all of these polls, on this scandal and all the others, and on Dear Leader’s popularity and job approval, tell me is that about 45% of the population, give or take a few percent, thinks Comrade O can do almost no wrong.

And that tells me there is a great irreconcilable divide in the country, with at most about 10-15% of the population somewhere in the middle. It is possible the actual middle is 10% or less.

This cannot go on. Something’s got to give sometime. Which probably explains why the socialists are so terrified of the what they regard as the counter-revolutionary Tea Party. And why they are willing to go to almost any lengths to suppress and oppress it.

The timing of Moore tornado reminds me of of Sandy….certainly news worthy and ever so sad, but it plays right into the media hands to shield the scandals while Superman does a fly-over OK., right at the time where it feels the Pres. is about to be exposed for the fraud he is.

You can’t reason folks out of a position they never reasoned themselves into in the first place. Weak to moderate 0bama supporters need to go through a mourning process (Kuebler-Ross) before they can admit to a pollster that the scandals have affected their approval of 0bama. Right now, they are still in Denial (this can’t be true!) and Anger (That’s just politics, you damned Conservanazis!), or even Bargaining (Ppppplllleeease MSNBC, help me find a logical explanation where it’s the Right’s fault).

Eventually, Depression (What’s the point, anyway DAMN all politics) and Acceptance (Shoulda known all the honest Chicago politicians are in the lake with concrete overshoes) will set in. This is why, despite the swiftness with which information about scandals is disseminated, approval ratings necessarily lag.

Does anyone have a handy description of the process for getting a Special Prosecutor that doesn’t go through Eric Withholder?

There is none. The Independent Counsel law was allowed to expire. Prosecution is an Executive Branch function so an independent counsel/special prosecutor can only be appointed by Eric Holder or Obama himself. Neither Congress nor the Judiciary have any authority to appoint an independent counsel. Only recourse is Congress’s oversight authority, which is considerable if they choose to use it. The House can create special select committees with subpoena power. They can employ experienced prosecutors as lead counsel to lead the investigations. This is what we should be pushing for.

The timing of Moore tornado reminds me of of Sandy….certainly news worthy and ever so sad, but it plays right into the media hands to shield the scandals while Superman does a fly-over OK., right at the time where it feels the Pres. is about to be exposed for the fraud he is.

hillsoftx on May 21, 2013 at 9:34 AM

I had the same thought yesterday afternoon.

I hope the governor of Oklahoma doesn’t do a Christie imitation and keeps the Tragedy-Exploiter-In-Chief at arm’s length instead of hugging him and slobbering all over him.

Does anyone have a handy description of the process for getting a Special Prosecutor that doesn’t go through Eric Withholder?

There is none. The Independent Counsel law was allowed to expire. Prosecution is an Executive Branch function so an independent counsel/special prosecutor can only be appointed by Eric Holder or Obama himself. Neither Congress nor the Judiciary have any authority to appoint an independent counsel. Only recourse is Congress’s oversight authority, which is considerable if they choose to use it. The House can create special select committees with subpoena power. They can employ experienced prosecutors as lead counsel to lead the investigations. This is what we should be pushing for.

MPan on May 21, 2013 at 9:49 AM

Then there will be no special prosecutor unless a significant number of Dems also call for one. And maybe not even then.

Which leaves only House special select committees. And the MSM.

Dear Leader and his brown shirts will be screaming “it’s all about politics” every step of the way. Most of the MSM will eventually play along, some sooner than others. MSDNC is already fully on board there.

The timing of Moore tornado reminds me of of Sandy….certainly news worthy and ever so sad, but it plays right into the media hands to shield the scandals while Superman does a fly-over OK., right at the time where it feels the Pres. is about to be exposed for the fraud he is.

hillsoftx on May 21, 2013 at 9:34 AM

Yeah, but the problem with the tornado is it’s in flyover country. It’ll be like the explosion in West Texas. It’ll be a story for 24-48 hours and then the media will move on. They don’t give a damn about red staters.

Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.

Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”

This left Stevens in the position of having to clean up the scandalous enterprise when it became clear that the “insurgents” actually were al-Qaeda – indeed, in the view of one of the diplomats, the same group that attacked the consulate and ended up killing Stevens. LINK

The key phrase here is that the CIA, (Petraeus), thought this was a bad idea—to arm insurgents with powerful weapons—and the State Dept., (Hillary) ignored Petraeus’ advice. Stevens was left in Benghazi to “clean up Hillary’s mess”, security measures be damned. Now the next question is…..did she consult her President on these matters, or were they both complicit in this version of events?

The disconnect between the reality of immense corruption and public perception of the President is why nothing will happen.

petunia on May 21, 2013 at 9:26 AM

Rush likes to say that his “Limbaugh theorem” explains this disconnect. You may have heard him explain that BO has successfully kept himself separate from the storm around him by claiming to be there to fix these things and by constantly campaigning.

I think it’s a much more familiar “model” of operation that BO has adopted. He’s running the government much like a mobster runs his organized crime. He is able to get his policies in place and his IRS cronies on attack without any fingerprints of his own. Like Rosen from Fox, BO has his own cover communication style that keeps him smelling like a rose while the dirty work goes on behind our backs. If you’ve seen any mobster movies like, dare i say, American Gangster, you might see what I mean.

So, puzzle no more about the disconnect. The dude is simply a smart, well spoken kingpin, mobster, a thug. Eventually they all make a mistake and get caught or worse. Looks like this one will be no different.

And they are tanking in a big way. Maybe the other networks will learn the right lesson from MSNBC’s total viewer implosion.

NotCoach on May 21, 2013 at 10:02 AM

I’m hoping raw ambition will trump ideology among some of the lefties in the MSM. Some might start fantasizing they see another Bob Woodward in the mirror in the morning and like what they see.

That, the weight of public opinion, and ratings might force enough of the MSM to at least report the facts instead of trying to dismiss and bury the stories. The truth will come out. It’s a question of when. Will it be in the next year, or two. Or will it be in five or ten or more years.

This is why I think the whole “low information voter meme” is stupid and hurts conservatives more than helps. It’s not that the voters are stupid or tuned out its that they get their information from different sources then “conservative” sites. If you are an engaged voter who reads NYT, Wapo watches the major news programs or CNN you are fully “informed” you just happen to be “informed” on how the liberals want you to be informed. It’s not like the majority of citizens tune out or don’t follow the news its that the majority of the news is very liberal and presents only one side of the news. If we want to reach those brainwashed voters we need “leaders” who people will pay attention too and are able to breakthrough the MSM deathgrip on the informational presentations. This is why btw the liberals are so scared about the LA times being bought. They unlike us understand the power of a major newspaper even if they aren’t making money the LA times, NYT and Wapo sets the daily news cycle and secures a lid on the information that gets out.

As can be seen here once the MSM starts reporting something the opinion of the population changes.

The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel.

Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.
Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”

This may be what the entire smoke-and-mirrors act has been about all long.

The Stinger is a short-range anti-aircraft weapon, commonly called a MANPAD (MAN-Portable Air Defense). In Afghanistan, Stingers were used by the mujahedin to bring down Soviet Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters and Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot close-support aircraft (the latter basically a Russian version of the Northrop A-9 prototype that lost out to the A-10 Warthog). They do pose a serious threat to airliners, but only when in the vicinity of an airport, descending to land or climbing out after takeoff; their range is too short to engage one at cruise altitude.

So, why would this be considered part of “overthrowing Qaddafi on the cheap?”

He normally traveled from Tripoli, the Libyan capital, to his “desert camp” retreat, and back, by helicopter. Usually an Mil Mi-17, a transport helo with the same engines and rotor system as an Mi-24. Lots of Mi-17s and the even earlier Mi-8 model were downed by Stingers in Afghanistan.

In short, the “smoking gun” here is most likely that Hillary (and by extension The One) planned to assassinate Qaddafi. (I don’t know if the “A word” will get past the filters, but there’s no other accurate way to describe it; “put a hit on” just doesn’t cut it.) Qaddafi dies in a “helicopter crash” out in the desert, his “strongman”, “one trick pony” government collapses, and Libya is neutralized permanently. Theoretically.

The trouble is, this just happens to be slightly illegal under U.S. laws. The ones passed by Democrats under Carter to rein in the CIA. Which would explain why The Company wanted no part of it. I’m sure they anticipated being ordered to do it, then when their connection was discovered, being “disavowed” by the administration and left to twist in the wind, as they were when ordered to take out Fidel Castro by the Kennedy White House.

I can understand why the administration would want to go to any lengths to shut everyone concerned up, if this was behind it. Never mind public opinion; The One couldn’t stay in office, and Hillary couldn’t run for that office, if they had to admit they voluntarily and knowingly broke a law their own party approves of.

To egotists like these, the lives of people whom they regard as “underlings” are a small price to pay to further their own ambitions.

Obama and his team gets more bad news on Benghazi. By a 22-point majority (55/33), respondents believe that the White House is trying to cover up what it knows on Benghazi. That includes 60% of independents, a bad number for Obama.

Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Candy Crowley for her help in lying on 0bama’s behalf, at a Presidential debate, in front of millions of viewers, thus helping him win a second term.

Her lie had to be worth at least a point or two in the election results.

I’m looking to see political ads against those who encouraged the IRS to perform extra scrutiny on conservative groups. Schumer, Durbin, Jackson Lee to name a few. If that extra scrutiny was directed against left groups, they would be howling in front of the first camera they could find. Let’s see them stand up for their position now.

In fact, now that I think about it., what exactly is “good” government? I can’t think of a singe example throughout history, with the possible exception of ours, only in the first few years after we declared our independence from England.

I don’t see how they make anything stick to him. Unless they have video of him telling the union rep to start blocking tea party exemption applications they will never make it stick. It’s like the OJ jury, who were only going to convict with video evidence, and even that was going to be iffy.

Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Candy Crowley for her help in lying on 0bama’s behalf, at a Presidential debate, in front of millions of viewers, thus helping him win a second term.

Her lie had to be worth at least a point or two in the election results.

UltimateBob on May 21, 2013 at 10:48 AM

A bribe of a lifetime-supply of Popeye’s Fried Chicken is a big f’n deal, as Joke Biden would say.

I will never forgive the media for covering up all of this back in the fall of last year. If they had reported honestly in Sept/Oct, it would have been a landslide for Romney. Of course, that’s why they didn’t report honestly in Sept/Oct.

I love the rich irony that they’re now crying over members of their own “profession” being investigated by DOJ. First they came for the conservatives, and they said nothing…..

What’s really scary is if you completely remove the term “Tea-Party” from this whole mess. Then just consider what other ideas / concepts / activities OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT chose to target in a negative fashion.

Words like Patriot, Constitution, and Liberty were all on the hit list (among others). How UNAMERICAN can you get?

It’s pretty clear the liberal agenda would like to crush patriots, curtail liberty, and shred the constitution. But to have the federal government blatantly target such things is inexcusable.

Once again, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Candy Crowley for her help in lying on 0bama’s behalf, at a Presidential debate, in front of millions of viewers, thus helping him win a second term.

Her lie had to be worth at least a point or two in the election results.

UltimateBob on May 21, 2013 at 10:48 AM

And after that mitt’s team dropped the entire conversation. They were too afraid to go against a fat chick. They should have continued the attack on this topic. It was a typical Mitt reaction. Push until you get pushed back then runaway from t he topic. They tried so hard not to offend anyone they ended up offending the majority of people.

A in–the-tank press sadly is just the new norm in our country the days if they ever existed of a unbaised press are long gone the sooner the GOP understands accepts and deals with that fact the quicker they start winning elections once again.

If a scandal doesn’t affect a politician, it’s because people don’t believe the crimes are really wrong. The USA is always in the wrong in places like Benghazi, so if our prople are killed it’s our fault for being there. We never had the right to defend them.